WTO Protesters Return to Seattle Without the Violence of Last Year

A year after the “Battle of Seattle” paralyzed the opening of World Trade Organization talks, thousands of activists marched through downtown Thursday, peacefully confronting an army of police and wary holiday shoppers in a day marked more by celebration than violent protests.

City officials, already facing a strike at Seattle’s two daily newspapers that has sent picketers onto the sidewalks, were poised for the possibility of confrontation on the one-year anniversary of the massive WTO protests. Those protests resulted in 600 arrests, the deployment of the National Guard and a curfew over most of the central city.

On Thursday, fleets of police officers patrolled the streets on bicycles, and lines of police officers flanked businesses most likely to be targeted by the antiglobalization protesters. Protesters vowed Thursday morning to forcefully occupy the sidewalks after Mayor Paul Schell declined to grant a permit to rally in Westlake Park, Seattle’s main public square.

The early part of the day unfolded largely without conflict after city officials relented, and more than 2,000 activists, shouting “Whose streets? Our streets!” marched into Westlake Park.

But police donned riot gear and established a tight perimeter around the park as increasing numbers of protesters began filling the streets after nightfall and lit a barbecue fire in violation of city regulations.

“We’re not going away!” protesters chanted. As horse-mounted police officers edged forward, they shouted, “Protect us; don’t hurt us!”

By 9 p.m., at least five people had been arrested, and several more arrests were likely as police began lobbing pepper spray at a small group of protesters who refused to leave a downtown intersection. A police captain was taken to the hospital after a bottle or a rock was hurled at his forehead, city spokeswoman Charity Burns said.

Officers were seen beating one protester with a flashlight after he was seen touching a patrol car.

Seattle police were largely determined to avoid a repeat of last year. Former Police Chief Norm Stamper took early retirement after the 1999 protest, when police were criticized for wielding tear gas, rubber bullets and pepper spray against peaceful protesters.

“It is a fluid situation . . . but the situation is under control,” police spokesman Shawn O’Donnell said. “It is our intent to allow everyone to express their right to freedom of speech.”

There were two arrests by Thursday night, one for a drug offense and another of a protester who climbed onto a police car.

Nine Starbucks coffeehouses were vandalized in the predawn hours Wednesday, their walls spray-painted with the encircled A that is the trademark of the anarchist movement. Leaders of the anniversary event said they did not condone the action, and they asked activists to avoid violence.

“Our message got blurred by a police riot last year, and now we’re trying to pick up the pieces,” said Dale Hodges, an event organizer who helped coordinate a vegan potluck that included 1,000 “No to WTO” cookies and organic Washington apples picked by migrant farm workers.

“In cities around the world today, people are forming events to celebrate this day because it did inspire a mass movement for what we call environmental, social and economic justice,” said Mark Taylor-Canfield, another organizer.

The antiglobalization campaign targets international trade policies that activists say exploit Third World workers, subvert environmental protections and promote the development of bioengineered food.

But the same unlikely combination of causes that marked last year’s confusion--and some of the unexpected synergy-- was in evidence Thursday. Labor activists marched next to “Topless Vegans” and protesters carrying signs to “Free Tibet” and promote human rights in Myanmar.

The anniversary events include several days of concerts, teach-ins and documentaries on global issues and prayer meetings. At Seattle Central Community College, students staged a walkout and protest near the site of one of the biggest clashes with police last year.

Fred Akerlund, 63, said he was replaced in his job as a purchasing manager by a younger man. That left him with time to carry a sign--”We’re baaack”--and an opinion about big business.

“I look around here, you see all these huge buildings? About half of them are full of lawyers to protect corporations from personal responsibility,” he said. “It’s out of balance. It’s way out of balance.”